1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to spooling systems for the receiving, storage, and deploying of cables, hoses, umbilical connections, such as bundles of hydraulic lines or hydraulic and electrical lines and the like, i.e., collectively “cables.”
Present systems for winding cable onto spools, particularly on off-shore drill rigs, employ spools which are mechanically driven. Offshore drilling systems have reels with various capacities outside diameter cable for controlling of subsea blowout prevention equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
One such cable spooling system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,073. With this type of system, as the cable is wound onto or off of the spool it is guided by a cable guide or “level wind” assembly mounted for traversing a reversible diamond groove shaft parallel to the axis of the spool. The cable guide assembly is coupled to tracking guide bars. Thus, the cable guide assembly traverses the diamond groove shaft and guide bars from one side to the other, evenly distributing the cable on the hub of the spool. When the cable gets to one end of the diamond groove shaft, it automatically reverses and continues to traverse in the other direction, continuously feeding the cable onto the spool. Many reels have been manufactured with this familiar diamond pattern lead screw mechanism to cause the line being wound onto the drum of the reel to be wrapped in an orderly and compact fashion. Probably the most common of these is the fishing reel.
In some instances, the level wind assembly may be fixed to the frame so that a single, constant deployment angle is available. This configuration may be good for repetitive uses where no change to the angle may be necessary once the system is installed or where the system is installed once and then never moved.
Alternatively, it may be desirable to adjust the level wind assembly about the reel in order to change the deployment angle. One example of an adjustable level wind assembly may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,953, in which the level wind assembly includes a carriage traversable on an upper guide bar and a diamond groove shaft that are mounted to plates at each end. The end plates are rotatable about the axis of rotation of the drum, so that they move in a circumferential arc to allow adjustment of the assembly.